Mystic Dawn Of Christmas
an original Acrylic Painting
16" X 25" , on a stretched canvas
( click on image to enlarge )
Now that the party is all over, except for the disposal of the shredded, wrapping paper,
and the rush to return the gifts which were the wrong size, or the wrong color, or simply
too wrong altogether, perhaps it's time to pause for a moment and think about the early
origin of our yearly quest for a lasting peace.
Some years ago, I did a number of folk-art style, paintings, to use as cover art, for
a series of holiday, greeting cards. Some of those pieces have been previously been
posted to this blog, during a past Christmas season. ( Silent Night, Glad Tidings Of
Great Joy, The Great Day Is Near, Behold The Glorious Dawn ) I called this series
Mediterranean Fantasies, because I was trying to capture something of a feel of the
land and long history of the place where the mythologies of western civilization began.
It is those mythologies which evolved into what we call our religions. Religions have
always been appropriated by our tribal leaders, kings, pharaohs, emperors and the
succeeding dictators of all our history, to help control their people, by promoting the
idea that they alone have the true god on their side, and that other people are evil
non-believers, and therefore they are sub-humans, perhaps even unworthy of life
or liberty or the right to keep their own land.
Here and there, over the centuries, some rebel reformers have come along and
spoken out against the powerful establishment, and it often cost them their lives.
One such reformer was a man named Jesus, who received the standard Roman
death-sentence - crucifixion. His followers established a new religion in his name,
but it soon became part of the establishment, and the core of his message is mostly
ignored. There are millions of people in this country who call themselves Christians,
but a large percentage of them find ways of rationalizing that their religious belief is
compatible with racism, xenophobia, sexism, homophobia and most any other form
of hatred or fear and mistrust. Perhaps all believers should be required to recite the
golden-rule every day. That might make them think a little more like Jesus. We will
never have peace until we all pledge to treat others as we wish to be treated ourselves.
Since this is usually the time of year when we make our New Year's resolutions,
may I suggest that we make a start by at least trying to be a little bit kinder to our
friends and strangers alike. Strangers can sometimes turn out to be our best friends,
and we can never have too many friends.
Eugene P. McNerney
